If you Google the phrase “civil discourse,” you’ll find numerous entries that say things like, “The Internet broke civil discourse in America,” and “Facts are not dead, but civil discourse is on life support.” So what exactly is civil discourse? According to definitions.net, it’s “an engagement in conversation intended to enhance understanding.”

Civil discourse is precisely what happens on Tuesday mornings at the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center in Los Gatos. Here, as many as three dozen seniors gather for a current events group meeting divided into three sections covering local, national and international politics.

“I’ve seen discussions get heated, but people are still civilized,” Cherie Ravel said. “Sometimes you can see the steam rising from their heads, but everybody comes back.”

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Ravel is in charge of the community center’s adult programming and says group members are from all walks of life.

“We have engineers, doctors and lawyers,” she said. “One past participant, who’s in her 90s now, was a retired diplomat from Sardinia. We also have Democrats, Republicans and immigrants.”

Sounds like a recipe for uncivil discourse.

But participants in the Aug. 8 discussion were mindful of others’ views, even though the group’s topics that day were controversial with a capital C: race, climate change and immigration. The immigration question that was posed to the group was, “Should immigration be controlled, limited, expanded or remain the same?”

“People who are doing really well aren’t the ones who are immigrating here,” Rich Albert said. “Traditionally, immigrants have taken the dirty, low level jobs. If immigration were eliminated or significantly reduced, we’d see tremendous increases in food costs. From farm laborers to restaurant servers, there is benefit to having people willing to take less desirable jobs.”

Albert’s remarks were held to three minutes by a timekeeper. The group also has a moderator, so the structured format helps keep the conversation on track, Ravel said.

Participant Linda Iversen seemed to go off track when she connected the immigration question to Los Gatos’ cut-through beach traffic problem, but then she drove her point home.

“Our roads are falling apart and there’s not enough housing,” Iversen said. “I think we need to back off on immigration until we can get a grip on what we have here. During the summer, I’m stuck in my home, and it isn’t just me; it’s people in Los Altos and Sunnyvale, too. I want this to be a place for people to come to, but we really have to take care of the people who are already here.”

And this from Los Gatos resident Mayo Parfitt:

“I have a Mexican gardener and I asked him, ‘Why did you want to come here?’ He said, ‘I didn’t want to come here, but there’s so much dishonesty (in Mexico) my family was in danger. I came illegally, but I’m protecting my family.’ Maybe they should do something about protecting their country instead of fleeing here,” Parfitt said.

Moderator Floyd Frisch offered some food for thought when he said a DNA test showed he was “92 percent Neanderthal.”

Really?

“Yes, really,” Frisch said.

He added, “If people wish to take a hard-nosed view of immigration, they should consider Charles Darwin.”

Current events group meetings are free, and open to people of all faiths and political views. To join, bring a photo ID to the Jewish Community Center, 14855 Oka Road, and ask for the meeting room. Meetings start at 10:15 a.m. and usually end by 11:45 a.m.

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